6th post – final game testing
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Finally, the “shoot em up” game project has come to the end. It was long and hectic two and a half months of development. It was our first game project, and because of lack of experience we did not know how to get started. Everything was new and unknown to us. In this journey of game development, we have been through some difficulties and some good things. We have learnt a lot through this process, and we are quite satisfied with the end result of the game. At the very beginning we did not have so many assets in the backlog, since we were not so sure what we were going to use for the game. All we knew was just the features, which had not change until the end. However, we did add more assets as we were progressing with the development. Smaller things which we added were obstacles in the level to make it look nicer. But the biggest and the most meaningful thing was the gem. After the Beta presentation, we had a meeting and discussed the design and we planned sprint for the final release. We wanted to add cut scenes to explain the narrative, however all group members did not want to have a text in the scenes. So, we were brainstorming how to explain narrative without text and without making a lot of cut scenes because we did not have enough time. According to the concept document, the boss cannot be defeated and the player has to run away and reach the beginning of the level. This was the hardest decision to make how to explain to the player without text that she/he needs to run away from the boss. Our boss was a huge fog coming down at the end of the level and without adding any text or cut scenes which would explain to the player that it cannot be shot, it was hard to understand that the players needs to run away to the beginning of the level to win the game. Questions raised why there is a big fog, is it an enemy, why it cannot be shot. Our team played the game several times and everybody had these questions. After discussing this issue for a day, we came to conclusion to add a gem in the game. If the sailor purpose is to steal the gem from Umibōzu, mysterious creature, then it would make more sense that he needs to return home with the gem.
We added two cut scenes at the beginning of the game. It was a sailor looking to the book which had a picture of the gem. The other scene was a zoomed book page where player could read a legend about Umibōzu and the gem, and there was a hand-written text which said, “I must find it” to show the player that the purpose of the game is to retrieve the gem. After the final playtesting, we received 27 responses to our survey. To the question if they understood that they need retrieve the gem, 7 people said no, but 20 players replied that they understood. However almost everybody seemed to be struggling to find the gem. It was because the gem was red and glowing and next to it we had torches which had red color fire. This made players confused and they mistook the gem as the fire because of the same color and size. This was the main thing players were not so satisfied with. At the end, we have learnt that it is very important to communicate clearly to the player though the game, because even the smallest things can be confusing, and player may not understand the purpose of the game. Once we added the gem in the game, players could more clearly understand the purpose of the game, because the boss would appear only when they pick up the gem. This showed that jewel was meaningful, because something would happen once it was picked. Big fog would appear spawning more enemies, indicating that by taking the gem something dangerous started to happen. It could be interpreted as making Umibozu angry, because something has been stolen from it. Despite some negative feedback, we are quite satisfied with our game, because our design decision by adding jewel succeeded. We communicated to players though cut scenes, art assets, and mechanics of the game. If we changed the color the gem, and made it to stand out, it would have been even clearer and more understandable to the players that it was the jewel and not the torch. Although our mechanics communicated clearly, that the gem can be picked up and then the boss would appear. Over all our game was looking good, it was fun to play, and it was challenging. We have reached the aesthetic goal which was mysterious game, but we also added some pace to it, which made it more fun and more difficult. If we had a little bit more time we could do better, like changing the color of the gem, but we were happy with what we had. It was a good experience creating this game, and this is even more valuable than the actual game. We have learnt a lot about communication to the player though this process of developing the game, and we will use the knowledge for the other projects we will have.  |
